Opinion
Six hundred planes grounded: The issue causing headaches for airlines
Michael Gebicki
The TripologistOne of the problems bedevilling the airline industry, and the consequent high airfares, has been the slow return to service of aircraft that were laid up during the pandemic. Supply chain issues persist, compounded by a critical shortage of aviation maintenance technicians and engineers.
An even bigger headache for some airlines is the grounding of more than 600 Airbus A320 aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney’s revolutionary PW1100G-JM engine.
The A320neo in 2014 after completing its first flight.Credit: AP
Revealed at the Paris Air Show in 2011, Airbus promised its narrow-body A320neo aircraft offered a 15 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency, a persuasive argument at a time when oil prices were soaring. The hook worked, especially with low-cost carriers, and buyers piled in with more than 700 orders in that year, the fastest-selling commercial airliner ever. Indian budget carrier IndiGo signed up for 150 and Malaysia’s AirAsia for 200.
Key to the promise of reduced fuel consumption of the A320neo was the neo, which stands for “new engine option” from either Pratt & Whitney or the Leap engine from CFM. The Pratt & Whitney type developed for this aircraft is the PW1100G-JM geared turbofan engine (GTF). The net effect of a geared turbofan is to allow the fan to spin at optimum speed, which results in increased fuel efficiency. It also gives the A320neo a higher payload and longer range. Although used primarily on the Airbus A320neos, the Pratt & Whitney GTF has also been fitted to some Airbus A220s and exclusively to all Embraer E190-E2 and E195-E2 regional jets.
A problem emerges with the GTF
The A320neo entered service with Lufthansa in 2016, but in 2023, Pratt & Whitney became aware of a problem with its GTF engine. The powdered metal used to make some of the engines produced between late 2015 and mid-2021 was found to have been contaminated. That could cause cracks and all those engines would have to be inspected, and the affected aircraft taken offline for an extended period. Both the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency mandated inspections of aircraft with GTF engines, taking hundreds out of service.
Problems have emerged with the Pratt & Whitney engines on Airbus A320neos.Credit: Bloomberg
RTX, Pratt & Whitney’s parent company, forecast it would take up to 300 days per aircraft from the time when those engines were removed until the aircraft could be returned to service. In September 2023, Pratt & Whitney announced it would take 350 aircraft per year out of service to carry out inspections, a process expected to be completed in 2026.
According to figures from aviation data specialist Cirium, as of April 1, 2024, 637 aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney GTF engines were listed as “in storage”, although that figure applies to all GTF-engined aircraft out of service for any reason, not solely engine problems. That’s about one-third of all the world’s aircraft with the engine type.
By contrast, only 53 A320neo-family aircraft fitted with the CFM Leap engine were in storage at that date, or just four per cent of the fleet with that engine.
For passengers, this has meant airlines around the world reducing capacity on routes or temporarily suspending some routes altogether until they can get their planes back in the air.
The airlines most affected
India’s Go Airlines was the worst affected by the issue, filing for bankruptcy after having to ground half its fleet. Credit: Bloomberg
That’s created a major headache for airlines with large A320 fleets powered by GTF engines. Among the most severely affected is the Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo. In February 2024, the airline announced that 75 GTF-powered Airbus A320neos were grounded, more than half of its fleet of that type. IndiGo is a Qantas code-share partner, operating an extensive network for passengers on Qantas aircraft which terminate at Bengaluru.
Late in 2023, Lufthansa had up to 20 GTF-powered A320neo aircraft out of service to deal with engine issues, but the airline managed to avoid flight cuts or disruptions by prolonging the life of its older Airbus A320-200s. European low-cost carrier Wizz is another casualty, with about 10 per cent of its 186-strong fleet grounded. In response, the airline extended leases for nine A320-200s and four A321-200s, expected to last between two and four years.
Turkish Airlines expects 40–45 of its A320neos to be out of action until 2025 due to the engine problem. The Turkish national carrier has 58 A320neo aircraft with GTF engines, part of an original order of 276. Worst affected of all was Indian low-cost carrier Go First, which filed for bankruptcy in May 2023, blaming the groundings of half its fleet on the GTF engine issue.
Although no Australian airlines have been affected, national carrier Air New Zealand has 17 A320/321neo aircraft, and up to four at a time have been grounded. The airline has also suspended two international routes, Auckland to Hobart and Auckland to Seoul.
Air New Zealand has experienced a double whammy with problems also hitting the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines used by its Boeing 787 Dreamliners. That’s led to the suspension of the airline’s Auckland-Chicago route along with some unexpected experiences – a Traveller writer flying from Perth to Auckland in April 2024 with Air New Zealand was surprised to find herself sitting on a Wamos aircraft being served by a crew with strange accents. From December 2023 to May this year, the carrier had been leasing an A330-200 from Spanish charter operator Wamos Air to fill a gap in its Auckland–Perth International city pair caused by the engine issues.
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